Rafaelson Bezerra Fernandes

Rafaelson Bezerra Fernandes (, born 30 March 1997), known mononymously as Rafaelson and also as Nguyễn Xuân Son , is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for the V.League 1 club Thép Xanh Nam Định. Born in Brazil, he represents the Vietnam national team.

Rafaelson began his football career in his native Brazil. He went playing abroad from 2018 and had unsuccessful spells in Japan and Denmark. In 2020, he moved to Vietnam, signing for Nam Định. In this country, he blossomed as a goalscorer, finishing as V.League 1's top scorer in the 2023 and 2023–24.

The 2023/24 season became a historic one as he scored an incredible 31 goals just 1 V.League season, breaking the previous record of 25 goals set by Lê Huỳnh Đức in 1996. Rafaelson’s outstanding form played a key role in helping the Nam Định-based club win the V.League title and established him as the leading goalscorer in Vietnamese football.

Rafaelson is a dual citizen of Brazil and Vietnam. After five years of residency in Vietnam, he was granted Vietnamese citizenship in September 2024. Later in the year, he featured in the 2024 ASEAN Championship for Vietnam and scored a brace in his debut against Myanmar. Later, he finished as the top goalscorer of the tournament and assisted Vietnam in their win of the title; he went on to receive the best player award for his performances.

Early life Rafaelson was born in a poor family in Pirapemas, Maranhão. His father was a teacher and his mother was a farmer. At the age of 14, he moved alone to Salvador, Bahia, where he joined the youth academy of Bahia. After two years, he joined the youth side of Vitória.

Club career Vitória A Vitória youth graduate, Rafaelson was accused of faking his age in April 2015, a claim later dismissed by the club. He was promoted to the first team in September, by manager Vagner Mancini.

Rafaelson made his professional debut on 5 September 2015, coming on as a second-half substitute for Robert in a 2–1 home loss against Botafogo for the Série B championship. His first goal came on 31 October, netting the last in a 3–2 home loss against Náutico. He contributed with seven appearances during the campaign, as his side achieved promotion to Série A.

On 30 June 2016, Rafaelson made his top tier debut, replacing Tiago Real in a 3–2 home win against Sport Recife.

Vegalta Sendai In February 2018, Rafaelson joined Japanese club Vegalta Sendai on a loan deal. A month later, he made his first appearance for the team in the J.League Cup game against Albirex Niigata, but suffered a serious injury in the match that required three months of recovery. In August 2018, his transfer to Vegalta Sendai was made permanent. However, in January 2019, he departed from the club after his contract expired, without having appeared in any league game.

Næstved On 13 April 2019, Rafaelson moved to Denmark and joined Næstved. He scored five goals after 24 league appearances for the team in two seasons.

First spell at Nam Định In December 2019, Rafaelson arrived in Vietnam. He went on a trial with V.League 1 club Nam Định. After two friendly games, Nam Định head coach decided to sign him. Næstved announced on 12 January 2020, that they had sold Rafaelson to Vietnamese club in the V.League 1.

SHB Đà Nẵng Rafaelson joined V.League 1 fellow SHB Đà Nẵng for the 2021 season. He scored six goals for the team after the first 12 games of the season, before the league was cancelled due to the effects of COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam. Due to financial difficulties, SHB Đà Nẵng terminated Rafaelson's contract in September 2021.

Bình Định In September 2021, Rafaelson moved to Topenland Bình Định as a free agent, signing a two-year contract. On 3 September 2022, he scored his first hattrick in V.League 1 in to help his team defeat the league's leading team Hanoi FC 3–0. He later lead his team to the 2022 Vietnamese Cup final, scoring a hattrick in the semi-final game against Đông Á Thanh Hóa. In the 2023 season, Rafaelson became the league top scorer, netting a total of 16 goals and was named in the team of the season.

Return to Nam Định and dominance in V.League 1 Rafaelson celebrating the 2023–24 V.League 1 title with Nam Định.

On 28 August 2023, after his contract with Topenland Bình Định expired, Rafaelson made his return to Nam Định. Being paired with Hêndrio in the attack, he quickly became an influential goal scorer of the club. He registered 13 goals and 4 assists after the first half of the season, helping Nam Định top the league. On 26 May 2024, he scored five goals in a 5–2 victory against Đông Á Thanh Hóa, which tied the record for most goals scored by a single player in a single game in the V.League 1 history with Hoàng Anh Gia Lai's Nguyễn Đình Việt back in 2007. On 25 June 2024, Rafaelson netted a hat-trick in a 5–1 league win against Khánh Hòa, thus securing the first national league title for Nam Định since 1985. He finished the season as the league's top scorer with 31 goals, thus broke the record for most goals scored by a single player in a single V.League 1 season, previously held by Lê Huỳnh Đức (25 goals). In addition to the top scorer award, Rafaelson was also given the Player of the Year award and featured in the league's Team of the Season for the second season in a row.

On 31 August 2024, Rafaelson scored a brace in the 2024 Vietnamese Super Cup final to contribute in Nam Định's 3–0 win against Đông Á Thanh Hóa, winning the trophy for the first time in the club's history. Shortly after the start of the 2024–25 season, he was granted Vietnamese passport and was registered for the league as a local player.

On 5 April 2025, Rafaelson successfully recovered from his injury and returned back to his club for physical rehabilitation. On 10 September, Rafaelson has been included in the club's 2025–26 Vietnamese Cup's squad list. He make his return to action on 23 November in the Vietnamese Cup round of 16 fixtures against V.League 2 side Long An. In the next match in the 2025–26 ASEAN Club Championship against Myanmar club Shan United on 4 December, Rafaelson scored a hat-trick putting his team in a 3–0 win in Yangon. In the next match in the competition against Thai side Bangkok United on 17 December, he went on to score a brace in a 4–1 win putting his goal tally to 5 goals in the competition.

International career In November 2024, FIFA authorized Rafaelson to represent the Vietnam national team after five years of residency in the country. He was named in Vietnam's preliminary squad for the 2024 ASEAN Championship. He was later named in the final squad for the tournament.

On 6 November 2025, Rafaelson returned to his national team after 10 months.

2024 ASEAN Championship Rafaelson made his debut for the Vietnam national team on 21 December 2024 where he scored two goals and made 2 assists in a 5–0 victory against Myanmar in the last group stage game in the 2024 ASEAN Championship. He thus became the first Vietnamese naturalized player to score in an official game.

In the first leg semi-final at Jalan Besar Stadium, he scored the second goal, securing a 2–0 victory for Vietnam against Singapore. In the second leg game at Việt Trì Stadium, Rafaelson netted another two goals, contributing significantly to Vietnam's 3–1 win.

Rafaelson continued his scoring streak by adding two more goals in Vietnam's 2–1 win against Thailand in the first leg of the ASEAN Championship final. During the second leg of the final at Rajamangala Stadium, he broke his fibula and tibia bone and was substituted off and sent to the hospital in the 32nd minute. Later, Vietnam won the final with a 5–3 aggregate score against Thailand. With 7 goals scored during the ASEAN Championship campaign, Rafaelson won the Top scorer and Best player award.

Personal life Rafaelson married Marcele Seippel in January 2018 and has two children.

In August 2024, after five years of residency in Vietnam, Rafaelson applied for Vietnamese citizenship at the Nam Định Department of Justice, expressing his wish to represent the Vietnam national team in the future. A month later, on 20 September 2024, he officially obtained Vietnamese citizenship with the Vietnamese personal name Nguyễn Xuân Son.

Career statistics Club

International

Scores and results list Vietnam's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Rafaelson goal.

Honours Club Vitória Campeonato Baiano: 2016 Topenland Bình Định Vietnamese Cup runners-up: 2022 Thép Xanh Nam Định V.League 1: 2023–24, 2024–25 Vietnamese Super Cup: 2024; runners-up: 2025

International Vietnam ASEAN Championship: 2024, 2026

Individual V.League 1 top scorer: 2023, 2023–24 V.League 1 Team of the Season: 2023, 2023–24 V.League 1 Player of the Year: 2023–24 V.League 1 Goal of the Year: 2023–24 ASEAN Championship Most Valuable Player: 2024 ASEAN Championship Top scorer: 2024 ASEAN Championship All-Star XI: 2024 Vietnamese Golden Ball Best Foreign Player: 2024 Dedication Awards Sports Face of the year: 2025 ASEAN Club Championship Top scorer: 2025–26

Orders Third-class Labor Order: 2025